Read on for a rock star definition of content marketing from Robert Rose of the Content Marketing Institute.

In March 2007, Joe Pulizzi left his six-figure executive position at the largest independent business media company in North America to bootstrap a start-up.

Many of his friends and mentors actively went out of their way to tell him he was, well, CRAZY.

For the previous seven years, Joe had worked with brands from around the world, helping them publish and distribute their own stories to attract and retain customers.

Traditional Media Turned on its Head

As early as 2001, it was easy for Joe to see that effective marketing was starting to look more and more like publishing.

Joe noticed big brands were getting serious results by creating their content, similar to what your regular media companies have been doing since the dawn of time. Contrast this with paying to advertise around other people’s content.

He asked the question, “What if more businesses of all sizes did this type of activity, focusing not on their products in marketing but on the informational needs of their target customers?”

That’s precisely the model and inspiration Joe used to start his new business. The Content Marketing Institute (CMI) was formed with next to no money and an ambitious idea in 2007. The company has since exceeded $5 million in annual revenue with less than $50,000 spent on advertising in 13 years.

And "content marketing" is now a recognized industry term among CMOs and industry leaders.

The Definition of Content Marketing

Here’s a formal definition for content marketing crafted by Joe in his book, EPIC Content Marketing:

“Content marketing is the marketing and business process for creating and distributing valuable and compelling content to attract, acquire, and engage a clearly defined and understood target audience—with the objective of driving profitable customer Action.”

“Traditional marketing and advertising is telling the world you’re a rock star. Content marketing is showing the world that you are one.”

Even with content marketing now a recognized industry term, most businesses have no playbook to execute a content marketing strategy.

They end up recycling product-specific ideas into articles and regurgitating old features and benefits. These are super important for the 1% of customers that are ready to buy.

But what about the other 99% of people who aren’t ready to buy? That’s where high-quality content produced consistently can play a significant role.

Clap Your Hands and Hope For the Best

I talk to people from many businesses every day about content marketing and social media. They waste an incredible amount of time on social media tactics without first having the content marketing strategy to make it work for their business.

A content strategist and a detailed content marketing plan can help your business fill the void and start connecting with customers at an emotional level.

SAP - The monoloithic company hiding in the shadows of big business. Read on to find out how they use content marketing to sell billions of dollars of software on an annual basis.

If you're a business professional, then you've probably heard of a company called SAP. But ask a man in the street and chances are they won't have a clue who SAP is.

​SAP produces financial and accounting systems for large companies. Here's are a few stats to illustrate the giant web of SAP…

80% of SAP's customers are actually small or mid-sized businesses.

Their software powers 74% of the worlds transaction revenue, and 97% of the 1.8 billion text messages sent every day across the globe.

Their customers distribute

78% of the world's food supply,

76% of the world's health and beauty products,

82% of the coffee and tea we drink each day,

79% of the chocolate, and

77% of the beer we consume.

These stats are off the charts. Can you imagine trying to create a unified marketing plan for this group?

​Micheal Brenner, former Senior Vice President of Marketing Content and Strategy at SAP, was given this task in 2010 and came up with a smart solution.

He called it STORIES.

Nothing New But Rarely Used

Yes, stories have been around since the dawn of man. The earliest homo sapiens gathered around the campfire and spun a yarn. They figured storytelling was the best way to pass on information vital for survival.

Fast-forward 80,000 years or so, and we've seen the emergence of the web, mobile accessibility, and social media and how they've changed some of the ways we tell stories. For example, we can now tell stories in 140 characters or less or with a six-second video.

Yes, it's easier to tell a story. But the world is now drowning in content too. Consumers are having a ball creating and consuming all this new content.

On the flipside, marketers and businesses are struggling to get or even gain the attention of customers.

Brenner says, "the era of one-way, single-threaded, brand-directed mass communications is officially over that's for sure. And yet most of the content and the messages coming out of businesses today are firmly stuck in the good old days."

With new marketing tactics becoming less and less effective, businesses have responded by creating more and more promotional content. Content that no one wants, no one likes, and no one responds to.

Yes, we have responded to a world with too much content by creating more content. And the typical message drilled into consumers is, "we only care about ourselves."

It's Not Me, It's You

We care about telling you "who we are" and "what we do." We talk about being the big-name logos of our customers. Hey, spend an hour with us, and we'll tell you how good we are.

We create content about us and for us because we think that is what we're supposed to do.

The problem? No one cares about you—to put it bluntly. People only care about what you can do for them. Email open rates, banner click-through rates, phone sales—all heading south!

The only way to reach your audience in today's information-drenched, content-saturated world is with content that lights a spark with your audience.

Producing content is nothing new, but it's still a young and immature discipline at many brands and small businesses. Smart brands like John Deere, Proctor & Gamble, and Red Bull using it daily to grow their businesses.

Yes, these companies are consumer brands. Can B2B brands have the same level of success? The simple answer is YES.

Joe Pulizzi, the founder of the Content Marketing Institute, says the best course of action for a B2B company is:

Creating a content marketing mission statement

Starting with a small pilot that connects with your brand's 'higher purpose, and

Highlighting for your team the companies that are creating EPIC content: content that is genuinely worth building.

If you're creating too much promotional content and product-specific content that isn't downloaded, read or acted upon then you know you're in trouble.

Into The Content Abyss

Michael Brenner realised the content void at SAP was a serious problem when he first started at the company in 2010. He and his team ran reports on their websites. They realised they were reaching a small minority who wanted product specific information while ignoring the majority who were not even sure there was a solution to their problem. In short, they had a CONTENT GAP.

They set about trying to highlight this gap to all SAP divisions. Still, They soon realised that content production was coming from several sources across the company.

They realised it's not just marketing but also communications and PR. Sales Support. Customer Service, Product development and technical engineers. All these divisions are now creating content for SAP customers.

SAP actually found that the biggest obstacle was their WHY? Helping their teams to understand that if they think and act as a publisher, they'll create more of the content their customers want, was paramount.

You Before Me

It is one of the biggest challenges in marketing to put the needs of your customers ahead of your own and tell stories that connect people with brands.

To help their teams, SAP identified their potential customers' top questions and search terms. They documented queries about how technology and innovation can help a business with its most significant problems, namely:

How to grow?

How to reduce costs?

How to beat the competition?

How to gain loyal customers?

They also made it their mission to meet with teams across the full width of SAP. They talked them through the step-by-step process of how to answer questions using the content types and channels their customers were using.

And SAP customers have many questions. SAP employees are doing their best to answer them by staying focused on their customers and their needs and telling stories that connect.

At a minimum, it is about showing staff how to be helpful. The long-term goal is not just to educate customers but also to ENTERTAIN them. Even to help them become successful in their careers.

SAP believes if they can pull this off, then clients will know they are a partner for life in their business. Not just a transaction.

SAP has admitted that not all their content is fantastic. But they're working on it, and they've accepted that survival in today's digital world requires a different approach to what is, still,the status quo for many.

An exciting and strategic content marketing plan can make all the difference for your business, your department, or your career. Follow in the footsteps of SAP and start to see your customers look at you differently.

You'll look less like someone trying to sell you something, and more like a:

True resource, and

Information expert.

Isn't this what all marketers and business owners want? Today, no matter how big you are or what budget you have, this is achievable.